Washington State Wines

About 50 years ago, no Washington State winery was making serious table wine. There was wine, but it was mostly cheap stuff, made from foxy American grapes and sold in bulk to California producers of mediocre wine.

Some quality Washington wines were made, but by home amateurs on a small scale. Then, in the early 1960s, several serious wineries were built near Seattle. But the wines left much to be desired, so the famed California enologist Andre Tchelistcheff was invited to see what he could do.

That did the trick. It was Mr. Tchelistcheff, flying up regularly from the Napa Valley, who helped introduce modern commercial winemaking to Washington.

At first there was resistance; 20 years on, in 1981, only 20 wineries were devoted to making wines with noble vinifera grapes. But the wines were good, sometimes excellent, and momentum grew.

By 2001 there were 180 wineries. In April 2007, Washington State celebrated the opening of its 500th winery, Sweet Valley Wines, in Walla Walla, the state’s own version of St. Émilion in Bordeaux. These days a new winery opens every two weeks or so, according to the Washington State Wine Commission. Fine wine has become a $3 billion industry, and Washington is the second largest fine-wine-producing state, after California (Oregon is third).

At first, Washington was overwhelmingly a white wine state. As recently as a decade ago, some 70 percent of the state’s wine grapes, led by chardonnay, were white varieties. But things have changed, and now the figures are 56 percent white and 44 percent red. Chardonnay is still No. 1, with about 6,000 acres planted. Riesling is second among the whites. Cabernet sauvignon is tops among the reds, with almost the same planted acreage as chardonnay. Merlot, first among Washington reds for 15 years, has slipped to second, with syrah a distant third but coming up fast.

For almost a decade, Eastern Washington has produced some of the finest cabernet sauvignons in the country. The best combine elegance, intensity and restraint. They are not austere; they reflect the style of the best French Pomerols from Bordeaux.

Top Washington cabernets like L’Ecole No. 41, Leonetti Cellars and Quilceda Creek are hard to find. Since production is relatively small and demand high, much of the best wine is sold at the wineries or through the mail. Quilceda Creek has a mailing list, but it is currently closed. The winery recommends getting on its waiting list to wait for a place on the mailing list  which may be why one California retailer offers a Quilceda cabernet 2004 at $250. Only 2,274 bottles were produced of Leonetti’s 2005 cabernet, $80 at the winery. L’Ecole No. 41’s top-of-the-line, cabernet-based Apogee, about $45 at the winery, may appear in some shops.

Woodward Canyon’s 2004 Artists Series cabernet is a bargain at about $30. Sageland Vineyards 2005 cabernet is a good value at about $12.

If California chardonnays are rich and powerful, Washington’s are crisp and delicate. Here are a few good examples, with early 2008 prices: Woodward Canyon’s 2005 Washington appellation at $36 is highly recommended. Then there are Andrew Will’s Cuvee Lucia 2005 and Dusted Valley Vintners 2004 Old Vine Yakima Valley, both at around $22. On the chardonnay bargain shelf are a Chateau Ste. Michelle 2006 at about $10 and Hogue Cellars, Columbia Crest and Covey Run for about $8 each. — Frank Prial, Feb. 18, 2008

In many ways Washington State is America's stealth wine region. Without the magnitude and tourist-generating power of California, or the friendly rebel attitude and accessibility of Oregon's Willamette Valley, Washington wines pass almost unnoticed into the marketplace.

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